Relative rejects plans to ‘slice up’ Renoir’s legacy

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The sale of a unique collection of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s love letters and personal objects has been denounced by a great-grandson of the French impressionist as an attack on his family’s privacy.

Jacques Renoir, 61, says the auction “will slice up Renoir’s intimacy through the public sale of numerous family souvenirs”. He wants French museums to buy the most important lots, such as a photograph of the artist on his deathbed in 1919, his silk scarf, and letters to Aline, his wife.

Mr Renoir’s campaign has set him at loggerheads with Virginie Journiac, the Renoir expert who has helped to organise